Balochistan Assembly passes 2 govt bills amid walkout

Quetta:The Provincial Assembly of Balochistan passed two government bills amid walkout by the opposition lawmakers on Monday, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN).

The Assembly met for an hour and 21 minutes. The sitting started at 1559 hours against the scheduled time of 1500 hours. Thirteen lawmakers (20%) were present at the start and 17 (26%) at the end of the sitting.

The Deputy Speaker chaired the entire sitting as the Speaker was not present.

The Leader of the House did not attend the sitting.

The Leader of the Opposition attended the proceedings.

The parliamentary leaders of ANP, MMAP, BNP-M and PkMAP attended the sitting.

Two out of three minority members were present.

The House passed two government bills, Balochistan Revenue Authority (Amendmet) Bill, 2018 and Balochistan Sales Tax Services (Amendment) Bill 2018. Both the bills were passed in the absence of entire opposition as they staged walkout against the first bill when their demand for sending the bill to relevant committee was not accepted.

The House took up 11 out of 12 Starred Questions while one question was deferred as the answer was not received.

The House concluded the Adjournment Motion (AM) on drought situation that was moved by a PkMAP lawmaker and had been admitted for discussion during third sitting of the same session. The AM was concluded in the absence of entire opposition as well as the mover.